Executive Power, Legal Negotiations and the Politics of Trans and Queer Lives

This section addresses intersectional and interdisciplinary questions related to theoretical as well as political and practical implications of how gender identity is framed by nation states, authorities, activists, and legal and medical systems. Nation-states often claim either openness towards trans and queer issues (thus demonstrating sensitivity towards human rights) or resistance towards LGBTIQ* issues through the regulation of gender and sexual identities (often under the guise of ‘tradition’ or value-based orientations). As political regimes step beyond the binary and/or explicitly reinforce the binary, theoretical and practical questions that exceed policy-level dimensions begin to appear. Reframing the binary in legal terms and in terms of nation-states communicating with their citizens calls for new understandings of the role of materiality when thinking about gender, particularly given that many policies and laws are shaped by limited understandings of bodies as falling into the category of either ‘male’ or ‘female’ (e.g., family and adoption laws, legislation related to medical care, criminal justice, etc.). At the same time, theoretical work in various disciplines (e.g., gender studies, queer theory, political theory, sociology of gender and law, psychology, legal theory) is affected by both materiality/constructivism tensions as well as attempts to deconstruct the binary. That is, bodies in their materiality have become an object of theoretical negotiation by disciplines that have claimed to have deconstructed biological materiality. Borders, bodies, border crossings and authorities become especially relevant in the context of global migration and institutionalized racism. Hence, the practice of legally negotiating gender and sexuality is strongly affected by other vectors of identity, including race, ethnicity, skin color, age, socio-economic status, etc. Trans and queer lives and theories, as well as the practical functioning of nation-states and authorities, are affected by conflicting regimes of the gender binary from the macro level (e.g., visa regulations, transnational relations, etc.) to the micro level through everyday life situations (e.g., access to public toilets, accessibility of transition-related care, physical pat-downs or body checks by state authorities). This section -- entitled ‘Beyond the binary: Executive power, legal negotiations and the politics of trans and queer lives’ -- seeks to bring together scholars from various disciplines working from an intersectional perspective to shed light on the ways in which the binary is upheld as well as possible alternatives in state policies and practical implications. We welcome contributions from scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, gender and sexuality studies, and legal studies who are interested in negotiating these questions with respect to state authorities and queer, trans, inter* and non-binary citizens. We intend to include 6-7 panels in this section, and possible topics for panels and papers include: • Practical implications of applying existing legislation to non-binary individuals • Challenges faced by authorities in dealing with trans and non-binary individuals (e.g., border control, courts, medical practitioners, etc.) • Policy-level changes due to queer, trans* and inter* activism • Intersectional approaches to law and policies with regard to queer lives • Trans* and inter* communities and healthcare systems • Trans*, inter*, and non-binary individuals in the police and the military • State discrimination faced by non-binary and trans individuals • Trans and gender diverse communities and criminal justice / detention • Emancipation and anti-discrimination policies related to trans and queer issues • Queer communities and the state Of the 6-7 planned panels, we propose 2 predefined panels: • “Human rights and legal aspects of gender identity”, which will deal with the ways in which human rights has been used to argue for gender identities beyond the binary • “Policing the non-binary”, which will discuss how the police deals with queer, trans and non-binary individuals in terms of discriminatory practices, body checks, and police regulations and controls